The following declaration of principles for international intellectual property negotiations was drafted at the 3rd Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. It is open to signature by all intellectual property law and policy specialists from any country. Sign by including your name, organization and email below (email will not be displayed or shared). See infojustice press release for more background information. To sign the declaration, fill out this form.

Adopted at the Third Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest
University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa
December 13, 2013

Taking into consideration:

  • The principles for promoting a positive agenda for intellectual property law and policy enunciated in the Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest.

  • The Max Planck Principles for Intellectual Property Provisions in Bilateral and Regional Agreements.

  • The means for promoting the protection and growth of the public domain presented in the Public Domain Manifesto and the Europeana Public Domain Charter.

  • The state of research showing that all countries, and particularly developing countries, need meaningful flexibility in their intellectual property regimes.

  • The increasing and unprecedented trend toward the inclusion of IP provisions in trade and other agreements that, unlike traditional multilateral intellectual property instruments, are negotiated under highly secretive processes.

  • The basic tenet that law-making in democratic societies — including in the international realm — should occur only through procedures that are public, inclusive, transparent and accountable so that law can best reflect the values and the consent of the governed.

  • The contemporary reality of rapid technological, social, economic, and cultural change.

  • The leaked drafts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement’s chapter on intellectual property rights.

We, the undersigned scholars, researchers, and policy advocates, endorse the following statement drafted and adopted at the Third Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, Cape Town, South Africa, December 13, 2013:

We call on countries negotiating the TPP, and those of other current and future agreements, to promote a positive agenda in international intellectual property law making, including to:

  • facilitate ongoing release of proposed legal provisions for public comment and maximize the ability of all interested persons and organizations to observe and participate in negotiation processes;

  • ensure that intellectual property rights are established and implemented in a manner that promotes social and economic welfare; respects the rights of students, teachers, doctors, patients, consumers, artists, and other members of the broader community; and facilitates the development of the public domain for the full enjoyment of all human rights;

  • fully incorporate and respect the provisions of all multilateral intellectual property instruments that provide flexibility to countries to tailor the scope and duration of intellectual property rights, define limitations and exceptions to rights, and that recognize the necessity of regulation to serve human values;

  • preserve the flexibility of sovereign States to modify and adjust the provisions of their intellectual property laws in response to new circumstances and technological, social, economic, and cultural change, in particular by

    • protecting the flexibility of States to define exceptions to anti-circumvention liability and the processes by which they are formulated, and

    • avoiding the imposition of a one-size-fits-all system of Internet Service Provider liability and related exceptions;

  • fully support each State’s right to protect public health and promote access to medicines, including by permitting all countries to fully avail themselves of all TRIPS Agreement provisions which provide flexibility to define the scope of and limitations to intellectual property and data protections;

  • defend the freedom of countries to choose to implement international or regional exhaustion of intellectual property rights to facilitate parallel importation;

  • ensure that intellectual property enforcement measures are reasonable and proportional to the infringement they target, including by avoiding “deterrent level” civil damages and inappropriate expansion of criminal and secondary liability;

  • ensure that countries retain the rights to make independent decisions about the prioritization of law enforcement resources to promote public interests;

  • enable States to prohibit internet service providers from monitoring or controlling the communications of their users based on the content of these communications;

  • avoid the creation of new dispute resolution fora parallel to, and that may conflict with, the multilateral system;

  • ensure that intellectual property agreements are consistent with international law, including international human rights law and the Convention on Biological Diversity;

We conclude that any international instruments that do not meet these basic principles are not in the public interest and should be rejected.

We record our serious concerns about the closed and secretive processes being used for current international negotiations while acknowledging the efforts of some countries to promote positive proposals within them.

Sunil Abraham
The Centre for Internet and Society

ADIGUN ADETOLA
FAKOM NIGERIA LIMITED

Prudence Adler
Association of Research Libraries

Riyadh Al-Balushi
Ministry of Legal Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman

Pamela Andanda
University of the Witwatersrand

Nevenka Antic
Creative Commons Serbia

BJ Ard
Information Society Project, Yale Law School

Katy Athersuch
MSF Access Campaign, Geneva

Renata Avila
IP & Human Rights Lawyer, Guatemala

Renata Avila Pinto
Creative Commons Guatemala

Margo Bagley
University of Virginia

Brook Baker
Northeastern U. School of Law

David Justin Bakibinga
Makerere University

Thiru Balasubramaniam
KEI

Wilbert Bannenberg
SARPAM/HERA, Public Health Consultant

Seble Baraki
Justice and Legal Systems Research Institue, Ethiopia

swaraj Barooah
SpicyIP

Ben Bartlett
PlanHealth

Fran Baum
Southgate Institute for Health, Society & Equity,

Flinders University

Markus Beckedahl
netzpolitik.org

Wondwossen Belete
Society for Technology Studies / Open A.I.R.

John Bergmayer
Public Knowledge

Zecharias Berhe Fassil
TAC

Kajal Bhardwaj
Independent Lawyer

Alexandre Boivin

Enrico Bonadio
City University London

Carolina Botero
Fundación Karisma

Ellen Broad
International Federation of Library Associations &

Institutions

Dorothy Broom
Australian National University

Beatriz Busaniche
FVL / FLACSO

Brandon Butler
American University Washington College of Law

Irene Calboli
Marquette University law school

Michael Carrier
Rutgers Law School

Michael Carroll
American University Washington College of Law

Cathy Casserly
Creative Commons

Alberto Cerda
University of Chile Law School

catherine Chamberlain
Monash University

Nehaa Chaudhari
The Centre for Internet and Society

Margare Chon
Seattle University School of Law

Helen Chuma-Okoro
Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies / Open

A.I.R.

Irene Clarke

Denise Troll Covey
Carnegie Mellon University

Jason Cross
Duke University

Teshager Dagne
TRU Faculty of Law / Open A.I.R.

Carolyn Dalton
Policy Australia Pty Ltd

Angela Daly
Swinburne Institute for Social Research/European

University Institute

Fernanda de Souza
UAEM

Abdullah Denovan
JOTHI

Estelle Derclaye
University of Nottingham

Joelle Dountio Ofimboudem
University of Pretoria

Patrick Durisch    Berne
Declaration

Nagham el Houssamy
Access to Knowledge for Development, AUC / Open

A.I.R.

Richard Elliott
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

Ezieddin Elmahjub
Queensland University of Technology

Hala Essalmawi
Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Thomas Faunce
Australian National University

Saoirse FitzPatrick
Student Stop AIDS Campaign

Matthew Flynn
Georgia Southern University

Sean Flynn
American University

Pedro Augusto Francisco
Center for Technology and Society – FGV

Aman Gebru
University of Toronto

Michael Geist
University of Ottawa

Bill Genat
Victoria University

Rebecca Giblin
Monash University/Aust Digital Alliance

Douglas Gichuki
CIPIT centre for IP and IT Law / Open A.I.R.

Deborah Gleeson
La Trobe University

Pablo Francisco Gomez
Arrieta RedPaTo2

Volker Grassmuck
Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University

Lueneburg

Cable Green
Creative Commons

Celine Grillon
Act Up-Paris

Andres Guadamuz
University of Sussex

Lucie Guibault
University of Amsterdam

Monica Guise Rosina
FGV Law School in São Paulo – Direito GV

Luisa Fernanda Guzmán Mejía
Fundación Karisma

Blayne Haggart
Brock University

Elbialy Hatab
Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency

Patricia Hepworth
Australian Digital Alliance

Julia Hill
MSF Access Campaign

Cynthia Ho
Loyola University of Chicago School of Law

Germán Holguín
Misión Salud Veeduría Ciudadana

Monica Horten
London School of Economics and Political Science

Yuan Qiong Hu
SOAS, China A2M Research Group

P. Bernt Hugenholtz
Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of

Amsterdam

Susan Isiko-Strba
University of Minnesota

Andres Izquierdo
Labcom – Instituto Pensar, Universidad Javeriana,

Colombia

Peter Jaszi
Washington College of Law

Jorge Jimenez Barillas
CC Guatemala, CongresoTransparente.org

Erik Josefsson
Greens/EFA Group

Francis Kaswahili Kaguna
East african Creative Rights company

Koichi  Kameda
UAEM Brazil / UERJ

Emmanuel Kamonyo
OSIEA

Joe Karaganis
The American Assembly

Melba Katindi Katsivo
KELIN

Matthew Kavanagh
niv. of Pennsylvania & Health GAP

Dick Kawooya
University of South Carolina

Paul Faustin Kihwelo
CC Tanzania

Burcu Kilic
Public Citizen

Thomas King
University of Cape Town

Michael Knapek

Gaelle Krikorian
IRIS, Paris

Primah Kwagala
Center for Health, Human Rights & Development

(CEHURD)

Mary LaFrance
William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada,

Las Vegas

David Legge
La Trobe University, Melbourne

Kalyton Lucas Alves Lemes
UAEM

David Levine
Elon University School of Law

Joel Lexchin
York University

Jake Linford
Florida State University College of Law

Ramon Lobato
Swinburne University of Technology

Hans Lofgren
Deakin University

Peter Lor
University of Pretoria

James Love
KEI

Edward Low
Positive Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group

(MTAAG+)

Marcus Low
Treatment Action Campaign

Jeremy Malcolm
Consumers International

Anthony Mao
Fu Jen Catholic University

Luz Marina Umbasia
Fundacion IFARMA

Antonio Martínez
ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America

Peter Maybarduk
Public Citizen

Diarmaid McDonald
STOPAIDS UK

Madeleine McPherson
Retired university librarian

Antonio Medina
Asociación Colombiana de Usuarios de Internet

Bernard Meijfroidt
IOPS

Hiram Meléndez-Juarbe
University of Puerto Rico Law School

Diane Mercier
Diane Mercier, Ph.D.

Ikechi Mgbeoji
York University

Gabriel Michael
The George Washington University

John Mitchell
Interaction Law

Pedro Mizukami
CTS/FGV

Brendan Molloy
Pirate Party Australia

Oreetseng Moncho
UCT

Miguel Morachimo
Hiperderecho

Cailin     Morrison
School of Law, University of Wolverhampton

Mammo Muchie
Twsane University of Technology

NEWTON MUDZINGWA
THE AIDS SERVICES INSTITUTE

Heesob Nam
IPLeft

Ira Nathenson
St. Thomas University School of Law

Caroline B Ncube
University of Cape Town / Open A.I.R.

William New
Intellectual Property Watch

Adriana Nilsson
Copenhagen Business School

Tyler Ochoa
Santa Clara University School of Law

Chidi Oguamanam
University of Ottawa

Byoungil Oh
Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet

Rami Olwan

Paul Ogendi Omondi
AIDS Law Project

Troels Eske Ortvad

Soohyun Pae
Creative Commons

Michael Palmedo
PIJIP, American University

Pedro Paranaguá
FGV School of Law

Jane Park
Creative Commons

Pieter-Jan Pauwels
OKFN Belgium

Sarah Pearson
Creative Commons

Henrique Peer
Pirate Party of Brazil

Sara Helena Pereira e Silva
UAEM

Diane Peters
Creative Commons

Fabricio Polido
Federal University of Minas Gerais – UFMG

Malla Pollack
Intellectual Property Scholar

Rufus Pollock
Open Knowledge Foundation

Achal Prabhala

Pranesh Prakash
Centre for Internet and Society

Gertruida Prekel
SynNovation Solutions

Srividhya Ragavan
University of Oklahoma College of Law

Reshma Ramachandran
American Medical Student Association

Lisa Ramsey
University of San Diego School of Law

Jhessica Reia
CTS-FGV

Andrea Carolina Reyes Rojas
Alianza LAC – Global por el Acceso a Medicamentos

Graham Reynolds
Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia

Dr Sean Rintel
Electronic Frontiers Australia

Allan Rocha De Souza
UFRJ

Carolina Rosini

Joan Rovira
University of Barcelona

Umunyana Rugege
SECTION 27

Carrie Russell
American Library Association

Claudio Ruiz
ONG Derechos Digitales

Britta Rutert
Free University of Berlin/ Natural Justice

Lotti Rutter
Treatment Action Campaign

Pilar Saenz
Fundacion Karisma

Peter Sainsbury

Pamela Samuelson
Berkeley Law School

Leon Sanchez Ambia
UNAM Law School

Rosalie Schultz

Leonie Segal
University of South Australia

Susan Sell
The George Washington University

Martin Senftleben
VU University Amsterdam

Patricia Senghor
AFRINIC

Adigun Sheriff
Sherrad Global Investment Ltd.

Chuck Sherwood
Community Media Visioning

Jessica Silbey
Suffolk University Law School

Marta Skotnicka
Modern Poland Foundation

Peter Suber
Harvard University

Maira Sutton
EFF

Nicolas Suzor
Queensland University of Technology

Ann Taket
Deakin University

Alek Tarkowski
Centrum Cyfrowe Projekt: Polska

Carole Theuri
University of Stellenbosch

Aminou TITA
ISOC

Amalia Toledo Hernández
Fundación Karisma

Samuel Trosow
University of Western Ontario

Natasha Tusikov
Australian National University

Dr. Hafiz Aziz ur Rehman
IIUI, Islamabad, Pakistan

Jennifer Urban
University of California – Berkeley School of Law

Mariana Valente
CTS/FGV

Stef van Gompel
Institute for Information Law, University of

Amsterdam

Molly Van Houweling
University of California, Berkeley
Wim Vandevelde
TB CAB

Yousuf Vawda
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Timothy Vollmer
Creative Commons

Kat Walsh
Creative Commons

Alex WEIR
Weir Consulting Llc

Ante Wessels
Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure

Darius Whelan
University College Cork

Kelsey Wiens
University of Cape Town

Owain Williams
Aberystwyth University

Jane Winn
University of Washington School of Law

Hong Xue
Beijing Normal University Institute for Internet

Policy & Law

Peter Yu
Drake University Law School

Zhenyan Zhu
Third World Network

Nicolo Zingales
Tilburg University Law School

 

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